Buckeyes Now

Ohio State Off Week Sets Up to Scout Opponents on TV

Schedule of Big Ten, Playoff Contenders Spaced Nicely for OSU to Watch
Bruce Hooley|
Ohio State Off Week Sets Up to Scout Opponents on TV
Ohio State Off Week Sets Up to Scout Opponents on TV

Ohio State will sit back and survey the college football spectrum this weekend, scouting via television the greatest impediments to its advance toward the College Football Playoff championship.

The Buckeyes can gain some insight into their next monster challenge -- Wisconsin in Ohio Stadium on Oct. 26 -- by watching the eighth-ranked Badgers play host to the team OSU just handled easily, Michigan State, in a 3:30 p.m. game in Madison.

No. 1 Alabama plays Texas A & M and No. 2 Clemson gets Florida State in other 3:30 games, so the Buckeyes can wear out their remotes late in the afternoon.

After that, OSU's players can grab a quick slice of pizza -- or, in their case, more likely, a workout -- and be back in front of their TVs for a closer look at No. 10 Penn State against Iowa at 7:30.

The Nittany Lions (5-0) loom as a dangerous opponent Nov. 23 in the Horseshoe. So, why shouldn't the Buckeyes start familiarizing themselves now?

What about Michigan? Well, the Wolverines really aren't much of a threat to Ohio State, given how UM's offense is throwing up on itself. But, in the interests of tradition, the Buckeyes can watch Jim Harbaugh and Co. take on woeful Illinois at noon.

OSU would probably be better served at that hour watching Georgia, the team with which it shares the No. 3 ranking, play South Carolina.

Quarterback Justin Fields can probably provide his teammates a scouting report on the Bulldogs, since he played for them last year before transferring to Columbus and powering Ohio State to a half-dozen wins, all by three touchdowns or more, four by 40 points or more.

Fields has accounted for 26 touchdowns rushing (8) and passing (18), while leading an offense that averages 49 points per-game.

And speaking of transfer QBs leading high-powered offenses, no one could blame OSU if it flipped over during commercial breaks in the Penn State-Iowa game to get a glimpse of LSU vs. Florida.

Former Buckeye Joe Burrow, in his second season at LSU, has ignited a pass-happy Tigers' offense scoring a nation's best 54.6 points per-game with a 79% completion rate and 22 touchdown passes.

Published
Bruce Hooley
BRUCE HOOLEY

Home/Football